NächtenvsnacktenWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: Nächten is a noun, nackten is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Nächten” is a noun and “nackten” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#17,664
“Nächten” frequency rank
#10,709
“nackten” frequency rank
28373
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Nächten nackten
Definition Dativ Plural des Substantivs Nacht Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs nackt

Where the eye mixes Nächten and nackten

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. Nächten and nackten follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

7 ch
Nächten
7 ch
nackten

Visual trap between Nächten and nackten

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Nächten is [ˈnɛçtn̩] while nackten is [ˈnaktn̩]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 28373, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Nächten is recorded at frequency rank #17,664, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈnɛçtn̩]. nackten is at rank #10,709, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈnaktn̩].

Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.

With a confusion score of 28373, this pair ranks #1,785,942 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Nächten vs nackten

Shared letters: cent. Private to "Nächten": hä. Private to "nackten": ak.

"Nächten" · 7 letters · shape CVCCCVC  ·  "nackten" · 7 letters · shape CVCCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • nackten ← anckten · nacckten · nacketn · nackkten · nacktenn · nacktne · nacktten · nactken

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "Nächten" and "nackten" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Nächten" is a noun and "nackten" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "Nächten" or "nackten" show up more?
"nackten" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10,709 in our German list, against #17,664 for "Nächten". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Nächten" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "nackten" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,785,942 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Nächten" and "nackten" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "nächstem vs Nächten". Nearby pair
  • Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes

Confusion rank #1,785,942 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list